"What I really want...is to feel the warmth of the people who should be closest to me." - Ian, "not simple".

"not simple" is a manga whose title should be taken only semi-literally. The main character Ian is a complex individual whose respect of life's subtleties tends to have a major effect on those around him. However, at the same time he is also very much a simple individual, a person who is simply looking for that one thing which so many of us take for granted; that being, family. This yearning makes Ian very much conflicted, however, his interactions and advice to those around him, allows him to seek some sort of solace in the fact that he can help others.

Only one reporter known simply as "Jim" in the manga, ever realizes just how complex and fascinating the personality of Ian is, and his revelation causes him to become fascinated with Ian, prompting him to write a novel about the young man's experiences. However, Jim slowly begins to take a liking to Ian, eventually becoming one of the few people that Ian could ever call a "friend".

The interesting thing about "not simple" though is that, while the manga does focus on Ian and his journey to find his family, the other characters end up sharing the center stage with Ian- beginning to realize the errors of their ways when they come into contact with him. Consequently, the character development is incredible. There are not very many characters in the manga, but this serves as an advantage to the story, giving those characters chances to realize how they have been living their lives and sometimes exposing their faults in the process. Because of this then, some of the characters end up leading happier lives in the end. However, whether or not the same can be said about Ian...well, you have to read the manga for that answer.

The manga artist (Natsume Ono) does an incredible job of illustrating the scenes within the manga. To show this, one only needs to think of this- during the majority of the time when I was reading the manga, I kept on mistaking it for a novel, mostly because of how well I was able to imagine each and every frame within my own mind. That may just be me though, since I have found that with many of the manga's that I have read, that I can never "feel" the story as much as I can when reading a normal novel. In fact, for the majority of the manga, I thought that I was playing the part of Jim- observing Ian silently from the sidelines, wanting to help but powerless to do so. Ono's usage of facial expressions and angles were the main reason for making me feel this way, and frankly, I have never read or seen anything quite like it. Its somehow unique, but in a way that I cannot quite understand.

Ian's story is one that I feel should be told to as many people as possible. Far too many people forget just how important their families are and how much they should truly mean to them, even if your family does have issues- they are still YOUR family, and nothing can ever replace that fact. They may effect you in ways that you wish they didn't but in the end, there is something so beautiful about family, so human. And while its humanity may very well make it flawed in some ways, there will always be something fundamental and glorious about "home" and nothing can truly change that fact. This is essentially what I think one should take from "not simple".

Thus, in the end I really enjoyed this manga, its themes and its motifs shine gloriously and are of the type that everyone should be very much familiar with. However, at the same time they may very well be alien to the reader, since many people have lost touch with what the word, "family" truly means, and that my friends, is what makes "not simple" so beautiful. It reminds us of a meaning which has been somewhat lost in today's rough and tumble world, and yet, it still presents us with hope.

Cheers.